The Giza Power Plant by Christopher Dunn Page B
Authors: Christopher Dunn
Tags: Ancient Wisdom/Science
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to impress upon us the prodigious feat the ancient builders accomplished.
The Great Pyramid's orientation is as impressively precise as its construction. It is oriented within three minutes of a degree from true north. Researchers speculate that because the pyramid was built 4,800 or more years ago, this variation may have been caused by a shifting of the Earth's crust or of its axis. Whatever the reason for its slight deviation from absolute true north, the Great Pyramid was the most accurately aligned structure in the world until the building of the Paris Observatory.
Adding to the mystery of the Great Pyramid is the fact that its shape appears to incorporate the mathematical function of pi. This incommensurable number, 3.14159 ad infinitum, exists in a pyramid when the angle of the pyramid's sides is 51° 51'14" per side. Given such an angle, the perimeter of the pyramid is in relationship to its height as the circumference of a circle is to its radius. It may be stretching the truth a little to say that the Great Pyramid had this exact angle, or that it was the builders' expressed intention to have a structure that exhibited this mathematical constant. Still it was certainly close. Petrie's measurements unequivocably show that the angle of the sides of the pyramid was constructed with remarkable precision. He wrote, "On the whole, we probably cannot do better than take 51° 52' plus orminus 2' as the nearest approximation to the mean angle of the pyramid, allowing some weight to the South
side." 7 Having worked with blueprints where tolerances on angles are frequently given as plus or minus one degree unless otherwise specified, I am certain that Petrie's measurements indicate that the angle of the Great Pyramid was a critical part of the entire structure.
As we can see, there is four minutes of a degree tolerance band within which anybody so desiring could arrive at the perfect pi angle of 51°51'14". This angle fits well within the tolerance band described by Petrie, and if we wanted to choose this particular figure to prove that the builders had the knowledge of pi, we could probably do so. I prefer to present the data as Petrie did, with deviations that are bound to arise over such a large area. Although the incorporation of pi into the shape of the Great Pyramid has been attributed by some to be pure chance, the fact that such an angle was discovered in the casing stones suggests that the builders were at least knowledgeable in the sciences of mathematics, trigonometry, and geometry.
The enigmatic Great Pyramid initiates many very basic questions. Why is it so big? Why was it necessary to build it with such a high degree of accuracy? How was it built? Methods of transporting materials to the building site are still under debate. There have been attempts to vindicate traditional theories by following the methods that were proposed in building the pyramids. However, it could be said that hauling or dragging blocks of stone over the desert floorâjust to prove that it can be doneâdoes as much to prove that this was the way the blocks were moved as the apprentice toolmaker perspiring over his deburring work proves that his efforts explain the entire General Motors operations, or the Nippon Corporation of Japan.
It is difficult to ascertain what the Japanese Nippon Corporation was trying to prove when, in 1978, they attempted to erect a sixty-foot pyramid in Egypt. Under prescribed conditions, they received permission from the Egyptian government to erect a pyramid southeast of Mycerinus' Pyramid on the Giza Plateau. They were to use the same methods that the original pyramid builders supposedly used. They were not to use the stone from the plateau itself, but from the quarry that provided the original blocks. The rules were that after Nippon had finished this demonstration, they were to dismantle their pyramid and restore the site to its original condition.
Agreeing to these stipulations, the
The Great Pyramid's orientation is as impressively precise as its construction. It is oriented within three minutes of a degree from true north. Researchers speculate that because the pyramid was built 4,800 or more years ago, this variation may have been caused by a shifting of the Earth's crust or of its axis. Whatever the reason for its slight deviation from absolute true north, the Great Pyramid was the most accurately aligned structure in the world until the building of the Paris Observatory.
Adding to the mystery of the Great Pyramid is the fact that its shape appears to incorporate the mathematical function of pi. This incommensurable number, 3.14159 ad infinitum, exists in a pyramid when the angle of the pyramid's sides is 51° 51'14" per side. Given such an angle, the perimeter of the pyramid is in relationship to its height as the circumference of a circle is to its radius. It may be stretching the truth a little to say that the Great Pyramid had this exact angle, or that it was the builders' expressed intention to have a structure that exhibited this mathematical constant. Still it was certainly close. Petrie's measurements unequivocably show that the angle of the sides of the pyramid was constructed with remarkable precision. He wrote, "On the whole, we probably cannot do better than take 51° 52' plus orminus 2' as the nearest approximation to the mean angle of the pyramid, allowing some weight to the South
side." 7 Having worked with blueprints where tolerances on angles are frequently given as plus or minus one degree unless otherwise specified, I am certain that Petrie's measurements indicate that the angle of the Great Pyramid was a critical part of the entire structure.
As we can see, there is four minutes of a degree tolerance band within which anybody so desiring could arrive at the perfect pi angle of 51°51'14". This angle fits well within the tolerance band described by Petrie, and if we wanted to choose this particular figure to prove that the builders had the knowledge of pi, we could probably do so. I prefer to present the data as Petrie did, with deviations that are bound to arise over such a large area. Although the incorporation of pi into the shape of the Great Pyramid has been attributed by some to be pure chance, the fact that such an angle was discovered in the casing stones suggests that the builders were at least knowledgeable in the sciences of mathematics, trigonometry, and geometry.
The enigmatic Great Pyramid initiates many very basic questions. Why is it so big? Why was it necessary to build it with such a high degree of accuracy? How was it built? Methods of transporting materials to the building site are still under debate. There have been attempts to vindicate traditional theories by following the methods that were proposed in building the pyramids. However, it could be said that hauling or dragging blocks of stone over the desert floorâjust to prove that it can be doneâdoes as much to prove that this was the way the blocks were moved as the apprentice toolmaker perspiring over his deburring work proves that his efforts explain the entire General Motors operations, or the Nippon Corporation of Japan.
It is difficult to ascertain what the Japanese Nippon Corporation was trying to prove when, in 1978, they attempted to erect a sixty-foot pyramid in Egypt. Under prescribed conditions, they received permission from the Egyptian government to erect a pyramid southeast of Mycerinus' Pyramid on the Giza Plateau. They were to use the same methods that the original pyramid builders supposedly used. They were not to use the stone from the plateau itself, but from the quarry that provided the original blocks. The rules were that after Nippon had finished this demonstration, they were to dismantle their pyramid and restore the site to its original condition.
Agreeing to these stipulations, the
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